Masrur Temples – History
Masrur
temples show similarities to the Elephanta Caves near Mumbai (1,900 kms
away), Angkor Wat in Cambodia (4,000 kms away) and the
rock-cut temples of Mahabalipuram in Tamil
Nadu (2,700 kms away). The temples were built during 8th
Century CE. There is no inscriptional evidence of the patronage or period of
the construction in the temple. The first known visits of the British officials
to study the Masrur
temples occurred in 1887 CE. Henry Shuttleworth, a British official from
colonial era, visited and photographed the
temples in 1913.
He claimed in his report that he
was the first European to visit them. He wrote a paper on the
temples, which was published by the journal The Indian
Antiquary. He shared his findings with Harold Hargreaves, then an officer
of the Northern Circle of the Archaeology Survey of India. Hargreaves knew more
about Hindu theology, noticed the Shiva Linga in the sanctum and he corrected
Shuttleworth's report. Hargreaves wrote up his tour and published his
photographs and observations in 1915 as a part of the ASI Annual Report Volume
20.
Hargreaves acknowledged the
discovery that a draftsman in his office had already toured, measured and
created temples plans and sections in 1887, and that some other ASI workers and
Europeans had visited the temple in 1875 and after 1887. The
Masrur temples suffered damage during the earthquake happened in Kanga in 1905
CE. The central temple has been locally called as Thakurwada, a term for Vaishnavite
temples at least from the time Harold Hargreaves visited the temple in 1913.
However, the temple was
originally a Shiva temple as evident from the figure of Shiva on the lintel of
the main door and other parts of the structure. It seems that the temple was
converted into a Vaishnava temple by placing three small black stone idols of
Rama, Lakshmana and Sita in the shrine in 20th century. The
Masrur temples are a surviving example of a temple mountain-style Hindu
architecture which embodies the earth and mountains around it.
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